Ruengoethe

Linnorm

Usually called “dragons”, Linnorm are ancient liminals, considered to be the apex of Tekne, and are creatures of immense power. Linnorms are the size of elephants, with a feline jaw and a cobra’s hood. Some describe them as being almost human in their visage. They have a furred chest and sometimes a mane, tails as long again as their body, and bat-like wings that give them limited powers of flight. They are capable of spraying an acidic venom from under their tongue that blights both flesh and plants. Their bones seem to be made of some porous Orichalcum that is penetrated through with the dragon’s vascular system, and their elephantine flesh is almost impenetrable by blade or spell.

Linnorms are never born, only made. They have no genitalia, external or internal, and do not socialize with other dragons unless placed in a flight by their master. The only Linnorms still in existence are those that survived in the Nagabon mountains after the Dragon Lady, Ejderha, made her bid for control over two thousand years ago.

Linnorm are designed to be controlled through The Loom, though the process of how is not fully known. All current dragons act independently of instruction, and are rarely seen by humans, as they only come down from their lairs intermittently to collect a soul or two before climbing back up the treacherous peaks. Many tribes will willingly sacrifice ailing members to the linnorm to placate the beasts so they do not come down to take a villager by force.

Linnorm seem to be very intelligent, capable of constructing lairs with complex architectural components and seeming to understand speech and, occasionally, to produce it in a manner horrifyingly reminiscent of a parrot. Most mages believe that many souls of humans or fae are consumed in the construction of a dragon.